I've been a bassist for several years and a few weeks ago I got asked to leave my band (pop punk, not surf) so I decided I'd really start learning surf guitar. The only problem is that none of my musician friends particularly care about surf music so sitting down to write songs myself I wouldn't really have another guitarist to play with (bassists and drummers can be easily persuaded in my experience) so I was just wondering if there were any bands that made it with just one treble player.
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SurfGuitar101 Forums » Surf Musician »
Surf bands with only one guitarist
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Joined: Apr 12, 2013 Posts: 13 Maryland 
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Posted on Apr 13 2013 09:49 AM
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Joined: Sep 28, 2012 Posts: 926 Berlin, Germany 
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Posted on Apr 13 2013 10:16 AM
This question has been discussed recently in another thread. You can find some ideas and discussion of plaing in a trio (i.e. without a rhythm guitar) here: Have a nice day! —Los Apollos - cinematic surf music trio (Berlin) |
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Joined: Apr 12, 2013 Posts: 13 Maryland
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Posted on Apr 13 2013 10:23 AM
Sorry, didn't mean to make a repost topic (my search didn't find that thread). Thanks for the link! |
Joined: Oct 05, 2012 Posts: 1725 Austin, Texas
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Posted on Apr 13 2013 11:02 AM
Dave Wronski of Slacktone is amazing at filling the space in between. Definitely worth a listen if you haven't already heard their stuff. He uses lots of chords and textures, and gets along fine on his own. —IMO. |
Joined: Aug 22, 2010 Posts: 1019 Portland, Oregon with Insanitizers
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Posted on Apr 13 2013 11:45 AM
This question is partially: is it more fun for a guitarist to play in a band with another guitarist than with no other guitarist? IMO yes by far. Still, a keyboardist can be OK instead. There are other perspectives to the question of course. In trios it seems the guitarist commonly uses plenty of overdrive or harmonic distortion producing thicker and more sustained tones. —Insanitizers! http://www.insanitizers.com Last edited: Apr 13, 2013 11:50:58 |
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Joined: Sep 06, 2011 Posts: 53 Maricopa, AZ
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Posted on Apr 15 2013 01:26 PM
I prefer one guitar bands myself. I'm a bass player and I like having my own sonic space, as well as stage space, when there is only one guitarist. |
Joined: Dec 21, 2009 Posts: 154 Burbank, Ca.
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Posted on Apr 15 2013 02:08 PM
I think in a trio everyone has to pull their own weight in terms of being creative, solid, and having a good sound or tone. Not a surf band by any means but the The Nashville Ramblers do so well as a trio that I can't imagine another instrument mixed in. I feel the same about Jackie & The Cedrics even though they get Tucker to play that tiny ass keyboard with them. |
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Joined: Feb 12, 2011 Posts: 54 Right Behind You
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Posted on Apr 21 2013 09:56 PM
I'm in a trio and I like it that way. I've never been keen on 2 guitar bands personally. I think the main way we get around this is that my bassist usually plays different stuff than i do, so we compliment each other. From what I'm told the lack of second guitar has never been a problem, but I know it can be somewhat limiting. —Psycho surfabilly! |
Joined: Apr 03, 2010 Posts: 3201 Jacksonville, AL
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Posted on Apr 22 2013 09:11 AM
When we lost our rhythm player I was terrified. But honestly, outside of a few areas where I could really use one when wanting to write more complimentary parts, it hasn't been an issue. Even more, we have a key player. Much of our newer material is really being written around interplay between keys and guitar. —THE KBK ... This is the last known signal. We offer Sanctuary. www.thekbk.com |
Joined: Nov 16, 2011 Posts: 106 Illinois
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Posted on Apr 22 2013 03:13 PM
We lost our rhythm/lead guitarist about a year ago. Our sax player also plays guitar, so he stepped up to the plate on rhythm for about a third of our songs. I like playing with a sax player, or rhythm guitarist. —How's your digestion now? |
Joined: Feb 27, 2006 Posts: 1054 Chicago IL.
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Posted on Jun 08 2013 12:20 PM
We had 1 guitar in the Reluctant Aquanauts. I found a big Fender amp with a external Fender Reverb unit covers a lot of sonic territory. We also had a fantastic drummer. I've been playing in a surf band with two guitars and I have to say its A LOT easier. —"as he stepped into the stealthy night air... little did he know the fire escape was not there" https://www.facebook.com/reluctantaquanauts/ Last edited: Jun 08, 2013 12:20:53 |
Joined: Feb 23, 2007 Posts: 1650 Santa Rosa, CA
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Posted on Jun 08 2013 03:16 PM
Dave W does a killer job w/arrangement |
Joined: May 18, 2006 Posts: 521
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Posted on Jun 09 2013 09:29 AM
I've played in one guitar and two guitar instrumental groups. It's difficult to do any more than begin to imply the chordal structure of complex chords with a single guitar and a bass. With two guitars it's easy. If done right, there's a synergy between the two guitars that gives more than the sum of their individual parts. |
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Joined: Jun 14, 2006 Posts: 910 New York City area |
Posted on Jun 09 2013 09:45 AM
I've heard the trios with the lone guitarist. I prefer the sound of at least a quartet with a rhythm guitarist who knows what he's doing with proper accompaniment. The solo guitarist - as good or as bad as he may be - gets a bit boring to listen to as the set goes on. I've seen Link Wray, Dick Dale and other lone guitarists over the years. I can't help but think they don't realize how much a rhythm guitarist would add to their sound. Or maybe they do but finances or, dare I say - ego - gets in the way of that reasoning. Danny Gatton (who could play rings around Link Wray and Dick Dale combined) had a rhythm section with a rhythm guitarist. So did Roy Buchanan, at times. Their bands sounded better. Even Hendrix and Cream overdubbed rhythm guitar on their early albums. Yeah, OK they aren't surf but good sound is good sound no matter the musical vein. All of course my 2 cents |
Joined: Feb 06, 2012 Posts: 55 Anchorage, AK
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Posted on Jun 09 2013 12:03 PM
I play in a trio and I love it. We are all fathers with full time jobs, and it's hard enough to get the three of us together! I have a jazz background, so I fill some space with chord melody types of phrases. I also use a little OD for thickness and sustain like mentioned above, and I have an E/H POG2 so I can add in up to 2 octaves above and below with lots of tonal tweaking options. We also just started adding in sound effects as well, loaded on a DigiTech JamMan (movie/tv quotes, beach sounds, car engines, etc). —The SpeNerds |
Joined: Aug 09, 2007 Posts: 308 Indianapolis
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Posted on Jun 09 2013 03:02 PM
lerxst1031 wrote:
Very true. As you get older work and family really come into play more. You can either play with a group of guys your age and deal with the time/scheduling limitations or find younger guys and be the old guy in the band. I really like Brian Connelly and his playing with Shadowy Men and Ancient Chinese Secret. That big Gretsch with some slapback and reverb really fills some space. —-Nick |
Joined: Oct 13, 2011 Posts: 251 Byron Bay, Australia 
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Posted on Jun 09 2013 05:32 PM
I'm in a trio and i like it that way. The thing is with a trio, musicly, there is 'no where to hide' if anyone makes a mistake its not covered up by the other guitar/keyboards/etc. everyone to play tight, this mkes a challenge, which for me it what its about, arrangement is key factor too, i like the challange of a 3 peice only (we use sound effects too to fill it out, the Alesis samplepad) —'Surf Music Lasts Forever' |
Joined: Oct 05, 2011 Posts: 58 Wisconsin
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Posted on Jun 09 2013 08:21 PM
casey wrote:
Bingo! Swapping both rhythm and lead parts amongst two capable guitarist's adds an exciting sonic and visual dynamic to a surf band. Even though I play in a trio- I prefer playing eyeball-to-eyeball with another guitarist to create a sound bigger than the sum of the parts. I want the harmony to connect the melody to the rhythm. —Dusty Twangdude Last edited: Jun 29, 2013 05:27:27 |
Joined: Nov 03, 2006 Posts: 693 San Clemente, CA
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Posted on Jun 11 2013 12:37 PM
A three piece rock group can work if all players are at a very high skill level. But to me downsizing a band is like a CFO approach to an orchestra...."Why do we need more than one person in any section..Why do we need all these violins? One is just fine and please cut down on the horn section and others as well"..."10 musicians should be just fine for any performance"... Probably true but it won't sound the same. Johnny Carson was asked by NBC to cut the band to a combo...he said no for a reason..it just would not sound the same as a big band. —Happy Sunsets! |
Joined: Jun 11, 2013 Posts: 70 Right Coast, USA
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Posted on Jun 11 2013 01:22 PM
midwestsurfer wrote:
Good point! Although, as family men, we do have a third option... By the way, +1 on the lone guitarist being a perfectly fine option for surf. The Rubber Band Youtube Channel Last edited: Jun 11, 2013 13:22:55 |
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